Automatic musical instrument



Apr. 24, 1923.

T P. BROWN AUTOMATIC MUSICAL INSTRUMENT Filed Sept. 5, 1916 Patented Apr. 24, 1923.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

THEODORE I. BROWN, OF WORCESTER, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOB TO SIMPLEX PLAYER ACTION COMPANY, OF WORCESTER, MASSACHUSETTS, A CORPORATION OF MASSACHUSETTS.

AUTOMATIC MUSICAL INSTRUMENT.

Application filed September 5, 1916. Serial No, 118,337.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, THEODORE P. BROWN, a citizen of the United States, residing at WVorcester, in the county of Worcester and Commonwealth of Massachusetts, have invented a new and useful Improvement in an Automatic Musical Instrument, of which I the following, together with the accompanying drawing, is a specification.

The present invention relates to automatic musical instruments, of the type in which a perforated note sheet is employed, in connection with an apertured tracker bar to effect the playingof the instrument, the registration of the note sheet apertures with the tracker bar apertures being utilized to sound the various notes. More particularly the invention relates to the provision of means for transposing the key in which a given piece of music or accompaniment, as represented by the note sheet, is played, and at the same time, under all conditions, for maintaining the correct registration of the note sheet perforations with the corresponding apertures in the tracker bar of the instrument. The invention is fully set forth in the following description and pointed out in the appended claims, reference being had i in connection with said description to the accompanying drawing, in which Figure 1 is a front elevation of the mechanism constituting the invention, shown in connection with i so much of an automatic musical instrument as is necessary for a clear understanding thereof, and Fig. 2 is a fragmentary view of a modification.

The reference numerals 1 and 2 designate the frame members usually provided in devices of this class for the support of the music spools 3 and 4 and the intermediate perforated tracker bar 5. The spool 3, upon' which the note sheet is wound up in the operation of the instrument, may be permanently journalled in said frame members 1 and 2, said spool being provided with the usual means, not shown, for effecting its rotation to draw the note sheet across the tracker bar 5. The note sheets are supplied permanently attached to spools 4, for insertion in the instrument when desired, and to this endframe member 1 carries a longitudinally movable shaft 6, the outer reduced end of'w'hich is extended through a bracket 7 i on theout'side of said frame. A spring 8,

surrounding said shaft and disposed between the bracket '7 and a shoulder 9 on said shaft, operates to press the shaft yieldingly toward the right in said figure. The heads of each spool 4 are suitably recessed to receive the inner end of shaft 6 and also the inner end of an axially alined shaft 10, carried by the other frame member 2, whereby to provide for the rotative mounting of said spool. The insertion of each spool 1 is effected by the movement of the shaft 6 against the resistance of spring 8, in the well known manner, to enable the other end of said spool to be registered with the inner end of shaft 10. lVith the spool 4 in position, the force of spring 8 maintains it against shaft 10 for unwinding of the note sheet therefrom.

The shaft 10 has a reduced outer portion which passes slidably through a hearing or guide 11 carried by the frame member 2, said shaft being capable of longitudinal movement for the purpose hereinafter described. One of the frame members 1, 2. in the present instance the member 2, carries a stationary bracket 12, having on its surface, in position to be partially covered by the edge of the travelling note sheet, an aperture 13. From the other side of the bracket 12 this aperture 13 communicates, by means of a tube 14, with the interior of an actuating pneumatic 15 from which air is exhausted through a pipe 15 leading to a suitable air exhausting device, not shown. The latter may be conveniently secured to or supported by a portion of the stationary framework formed by the members 1, 2. The movable wall 16 of pneumatic 15 has secured thereto a curved arm 17. against which the outer end of shaft 10 is constantly pressed by the expansive force of spring 8. The face of arm 17 against which the shaft 10 bears is inclined fromthe vertical in the direction of its length, as shown at 18. Consequently the downward movement of arm 17, occasioned by the collapse of pneumatic 15, pushes the shaft 10 and spool 4 to the left in the figure, against the yielding resistance of spring 8; on the other hand, the expansive force of said spring is always exerted to press the spool 4 and shaft 10 to the right in the figure when conditions tending to collapse the pneumatic do not exist.

The operation of the mechanism so far described is as follows :-The aperture 13 bears a fixed relation to the apertures 19 of tracker bar 5, that is, if the sheet is trackingnormally and correctly, for registration of its note apertures with the apertures 19 of the tracker bar, the edge of said sheet will permit the passage of air into the interior of pneumatic 15 through the uncovered portion of aperture 18. A deflection of the note sheet to the right in the figure, from any cause whatsoever, restricts the effective area of aperture 13 and reduces the volume of air passing into the interior of pneumatic 15. The resulting collapse of wall 16, due to the partial vacuum thus created in the pneumatic, effects, through the downward movement of arm 17, 'a movement of spool 4; to the left in the figure against the resistance of spring 8, carrying with itthe note sheet, and thereby tending to return the latter to its correct tracking position, and uncovering more of the aperture 13. ()n the other hand, should the note sheet move to the left in the figure, uncovering more than the proper area ofaperture 13, wall 16, instead of collapsing, is caused to move out wardly, by the expansive force of spring 8, thus carrying the spool 4 to the right and returning the note sheet to its correct tracking position.

The mechanism as above described is most particularly concerned with the present invention in respect to the disposition of tracking control aperture 13 in a stationary member independent of tracker bar 5; it being understood that tracking control mechanism for maintaining the note sheet apertures in correct registration with the tracker bar apertures is, of itself, old in the art to which the invention pertains. However, it has heretofore been the practice to dispose the tracking control aperture which connects with the actuating pneumatic in the tracker bar itself, and it has also been customary to locate tracking control apertures independently of the tracker bar, but employing two apertures on opposite sides of the normal travel of the music sheet, whereby one or the other of said apertures will be either opened orv closed by the divergence of the music sheet.

By my invention I employ but one tracking control aperture which is located inde pendently, of the tracker bar and in such relation to the normal travel of the music sheet that the aperture will be partially. closed, whereby. thecontrol of the actuating pneumatic; will he produced byja variation in the'eifective area of said aperture. I- also greatly, simplify. the actuating pneumatie by obviating. the use of valves between the aperture "and the pneumatic. and I do away withthel use of complicated or pivotal connections hetweenjthe pneumatic and the. musicjsheet spool. The movable leaf 16 of accompaniment being played, as represented by the note sheet, and the mechanism for ac complishing this result is of such a character as to require relative movement between the tracker bar and the note sheet, thus pre venting the location of the tracking control aperture in the tracker bar.

To the above ends the tracker bar 5 is carried by bars 20 and 21 which are slidable longitudinally in suitable guides. or bearings 22 and 23 respectively, provided by. the frame members 1 and 2. One of these bars, in the present instance the bar. 20, is pivotally connected at24: to a lever 25 which is pivoted at 26 to a bracket 27. The'other end of lever 25 has. pivotally connected thereto at 28 a rod 29, by the movement of which the tracker bar is moved longitudinally. The end of rod 29 has'a lug or pin 30 projecting therefrom and adapted to, be received in any one of a plurality of notches formed in a stationary plate 32. Asuitable handle or knob 33 is: provided for. ma]- nipulation'of the rod 29, to locate the pin 30 in the desired notch. These notches bear.

a predetermined relation to the position of tracker bar 5, that is, each notch corresponds exactly to a position of tracker'bar 5 which will result in the playing of a piece of music or accompaniment in a desired key, high or low, as the case may be. As a consequence, the'opera'tor has simply to dispose the pin 30 in the proper notch, and the tracker bar will take up such a position, in

response thereto, as will result in a correct.

and accurate registration of apertures 19 with the note sheet apertures for. playing the piece of music or accompaniment in the desired key. The pin 30 is held by the "free end of the rod 29 which is pivotally attached at 28 to the end of the lever 25, so that. the.

pinis free to drop by gravity into one of the notches 32, thereby obviating the use of an elastic element, such as. a spring, in order to hold the pin 30 in one of. the notches. The arms of. the lever 25. are so proportioned that the movement of the pin 30 from one notch to the next will change thekey'a semitone, or a full tone, as desired. Itwillthus be seen that, in connection with a trans} posing mechanism" which accurately and positively holds thepartsin adjusted osition for correct playing in a required-"key, there has also been provided a sheet Gen-f tralizing device .or'ftracking controlmechanism adapted to secure a sensitive and quickly responsive automatic adjustment of the note sheet to maintain it in proper tracking relation to the tracker bar. Moreover this last mentioned automatic adjustment is, as will be seen, responsive under all conditions, irrespective of where the tracker bar has been moved to by the transposing mechanism.

Obviously, the invention is in no sense limited to the employment of tracking control mechanism of the type illustrated, but is susceptible of embodiment in connection with any other known form of suchmechanism, such, for instance, as the mechanism operating on the so-called edge control principle, as illustrated in Fig. 2. Here the stationary control aperture 3a is provided in a bracket 35, and the passage of air through said aperture to the actuating pneumatic, corresponding to the pneumatic 15, Fig. 1, is controlled by a lever 36. The other end of said lever is held by a spring 37 or other equivalent means, in light contact with the edge of the traveling note sheet, as represented by the broken line 38, so that any deflections of said note sheet from its normal path serve to vary the amount of air passing to the actuating pneumatic, and thereby to cause such action of the latter as will return the sheet to correct tracking relation, just as described above in connection with Fig. 1.

I claim:

1. In an automatic musical instrument having a perforated music sheet, a longitudinally movable spool for said sheet, a tracker bar and means for moving the music sheet over the tracker bar, the combination with the movable spool of a spring to move the spool in one direction, an actuating pneumatic for moving the spool in the opposite direction, and a fixed member independent of the tracker bar provided with a single aperture communicating with the pneumatic and controlled bydivergence of the music sheet from its normal path as it passes over the tracker bar.

2. In an automatic musical instrument having a perforated music sheet, a longitudinally movable spool for said sheet, a tracker bar and means for moving the music sheet over the tracker bar, the combination with said movable spool, of means for imparting a longitudinal movement to said spool, comprising a spring for moving the spool in one direction, a collapsible pneumatic having a movable leaf carrying a curved bar having a vertical movement as actuated by said pneumatic to move said spool in the opposite direction, means for controlling the action of said pneumatic by the divergence of the music sheet from its normal path as it passes over the tracker bar, and means for manually imparting a longitudinal movement to the tracker bar in order to change the key. 7

3. In a musical instrument of the class described, the combination with an apertured tracker bar capable of a longitudinal movement, of a lever pivotally held by the framework of the instrument having one of its ends operatively connected with said tracker bar, a plate supported by the framework of the instrument and having in its upper edge a series of notches, a rod pivotally connected with said lever, a pin carried by the free end of said lever adapted to be held by gravity in the notches of said plate, said notches being spaced relatively to the apertures of the tracker bar according to the change of key desired.

Dated this 31st day of August, 1916.

THEODORE P. BROWN.

YVitnesses NELLIE WHALEN, PENELOPE COMBERBACH. 

